Prog bands with sax

I'm a big fan of the use of the saxophone in bands like Van der Graaf Generator, Pink Floyd and Birds & Buildings... the powerful, raw sound of them is just so cool to me! Are there any other bands that avoid the "smooth" sax sound and go for the power sound?

I don't know what your definition of "smooth" and "power" sax sounds are cause I wouldn't say Pink Floyd avoid the smooth sax sound but I think I get the point.

Try out Gnidrolog for some sax and flute which is similar to the raw VdGG sound.

I wouldn't know how to describe his sound but listen to anything featuring Didier Malherbe (most notably Gong). He is just one plain awesome player. He's also incredible at flute.

Elton Dean may be my favorite sax player in prog. Try out Third by Soft Machine, Soft Mountain, Soft Heaps, etc. His style is unique and he never ceases to amaze me. His soloing is some of the best I've ever heard (even including jazz).

These are my favorites in prog coming from a sax player perspective.

Since Ron Asheton died today, I'll also pay tribute to The Stooges by saying that they had some of the most "unsmooth" sax parts ever. Haha. Listen to Feel Alright.

Colosseum
Traffic
East of Eden
Osanna

These are just a few that spring to my mind now... I am sure there are many more that I forgot.

Try Yochk'o Seffer.

Edited by NaturalScience - January 07 2009 at 19:16

AUDIENCE is raw but a highly skilled and interesting combo. Virtually no keyboards and Howard Werth is on acoustic classical guitar, but don't be fooled, they have a ' big ' sound. Recommended are ' Friend's, Friend's Friend ' and ' House on the Hill' . Keith Gemmell's sax playing is monstrous with a real edge . His flute and clarinet playing are also great - he's a wizard of the woodwinds .

The rhythm section of Trevor Williams on Fender bass and Tony Connor on drums [ yes, still of ' Hot Chocolate' fame, or should I say infamy ] is also excellent . The rhythm section is often more exposed and obvious because of some of the more acoustic qualities of the band . An excellent and original quartet and a little underrated imo.

I enjoy FFF because of the longer soloing on tunes like ' Raid ' and ' Priestess ' which should be high on any sax enthusiasts agenda imo. Gemmel uses some effects on his sax to help establish the mood of these longer songs.

Howard Werth , who incidentally was auditioned to replace the late Jim Morrison in the Doors and was under close consideration, also has a real edge to his voice and in some songs scats a harmony line with the sax which adds to the bands distinctive sound and character.

[ P.S. the only stream sample here is a song from 'H on the H' which features Gemmell's flute which still aint bad.]

Trouserpress wrote: Bern wrote: Gnidrolog YES!! I couldn't for the life of me remember their name but I really really wanted to mention Gnidrolog. Lady Lake is an album every self-respecting prog fan ought to at the very least try, but for grunty, powerful sax... look no further!

Their debut In Spite of Harry's Toe Nail is the one that I keep coming back to. Can't remember if its got as much sax, though.

There's plenty among the french Avant/RIO bands. Nothing smooth about Vortex, Art Zoyd, Lard Free, Hellebore.... but it might not be the type of music you're looking for?

 

An interesting new duo is RoRo, a project of Roland Schaeffer of Guru Guru and Roman Bunka of Embryo (it is an easy guess where the band name came from ). Their musical paths had crossed quite often, and both ared very interested in the music of other cultures. Bunka is one of the leading European oud players (and an excellent guitarist too), Schaeffer plays a lt of wind instruments and is an excellent guitar player too. They haven't made an album yet, but they are touring at the moment, and on the homepage of Roland Schaeffer you can hear a short excerpt of their music:
http://www.roland-schaeffer.de/roland_schaeffer_duo.htm

Out of focus!

Solution: http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=1176 Black Widow: http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=1059